INITIATIVE ON GROWTH CONTROL TO BE STUDIED

City Council orders report after citizens petition garners almost 6,000 signatures

The Encinitas City Council decided this week to commission a study on a citizens growth-control initiative that has gathered enough signatures to qualify for a special election if the council declines to adopt it outright.

“I believe this is the prudent thing to do — to order the report,” Mayor Teresa Barth said, and then later added, “I would prefer to do this right, rather than quickly.”

The proposed initiative would require a public vote to change a property’s zoning or increase its allowable housing density. It would also set a citywide building height limit of 30 feet and expand the city’s public notification requirements for development proposals.

The council made its decision at its Wednesday night meeting after hearing from 13 public speakers, with more of them initiative proponents than opponents. Supporters included several volunteer signature gatherers who said it was easy to get the 5,668 signatures required to qualify for a special election.

“It was rather remarkable how many people were anxious to sign,” petition collector and New Encinitas resident Denise Martin told the council.

Bruce Ehlers, the initiative’s spokesman, urged the council to directly adopt the initiative Wednesday night instead of putting it on the ballot, saying it clearly had the public’s strong backing because it received enough signatures to qualify for a special election.

Opponents urged the council not to act in a hasty fashion, saying people didn’t really know what they were signing.

Mike Andreen, who represents a New Encinitas business organization, called the proposed initiative a “complicated and confusing measure” and said its passage would create a “chaotic building moratorium.”

The council had three choices Wednesday night. It could have directly adopted the initiative without making any changes; it could have decided to place the initiative on the ballot; or it could, as it did, ask for a research report and make a decision next month.

Council members told the city manager that they wanted the research report to come back “as soon as possible,” but said it was OK if the city-hired consultants need the full 30 days allowed under law.

Councilwoman Kristin Gaspar said she had a large list of unanswered questions about the initiative. Her questions included everything from what effect the initiative would have on attracting new businesses to town to what the long-term cost would be of regularly holding elections on development proposals.

The two new council members — Tony Kranz and Lisa Shaffer — were among the thousands of people who signed the petitions months ago asking for the initiative to appear on the ballot. They both signed before they were elected to their City Council posts, and they both said Wednesday that they now have serious concerns about the proposed initiative.

Shaffer said she signed the ballot petition because she wanted to send a message that she didn’t approve of how Encinitas was handling its update of a citywide planning document known as the General Plan. She said she supports “the concept” of the initiative and some sections of it, but not the entire proposal.

Kranz said the initial planning session for the proposed Right to Vote Initiative took place at his Leucadia home many months ago. Two proposals were up for debate that day, and he favored one related to open government policies.

That one didn’t move forward, but the growth initiative did and he agreed to sign it, he said, adding that he has been “involved only on the periphery” since then.

He added that he didn’t agree with the decision by supporters to seek a costly special election this year, instead of a cheaper general election in 2014.

He asked whether the council could enact the initiative now, and then put a measure on the 2014 general election ballot repealing it. The city attorney said he would look into that.

City Clerk Kathy Hollywood said Wednesday that the latest cost estimate for the special election is $350,000 to $400,000.